On the other hand, we also need to know the age of Christianity. Today Christianity is almost in a state of dormancy. The condition of Christianity is like the condition of the church in Sardis in Revelation 3—she has a name that indicates that she is living, and yet she is dead. Everything of Sardis is not living but dead and dying, like a sick person who is about to die. We may also be in a condition like that of Christianity.
In recent years, according to statistics from Christian groups all over the world, there has been a gradual decline in the number of Christians. In the last century it can be said that England took the leading role in Christianity and was the most prominent place for Christianity. Not only were there groups of great teachers in England, there were also many publications. However, in less than one hundred years, Great Britain, especially Northern Scotland, has almost become like a Gentile world of unbelievers. Many people do not even know the name of the Lord Jesus. Although Christianity is the state religion of England, the number of Christians there is decreasing drastically. What is the reason? The reason is that the methods and actions in Christianity are wrong.
Around one hundred and fifty years ago, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland came to Taiwan and established the Presbyterian Church. Now over a hundred years have passed, yet the number of people in the entire Presbyterian Church is only 150,000. A few years ago we obtained statistics on the Christian groups in Taiwan with the greatest numbers of people. First was the Presbyterian Church, which had 120,000 to 130,000 believers at the time. The local churches were the next largest with 70,000 to 80,000. Third was the True Jesus Church with 20,000 to 30,000. The total number of Christians on the entire island of Taiwan was less than 500,000. In other words, the percentage of Christians in Taiwan was less than 2.5 percent of an approximate population of 20 million people. For every one hundred people, there were two and a half Christians at the most. However, in South Korea there are ten million Christians among a total population of fifty million, representing twenty percent of the population. Even in mainland China, where the Communist party persecutes Christians severely, there has been an increase in the number of Christians. Thirty-eight years ago when we left the mainland, the number of Christians plus Catholics was under four million, but now the number of Christians in mainland China is over fifty million—a thirteenfold increase.
The Lord Himself raised up the young people in China to preach the gospel, and the Communist party could not stop them. During the first twenty years that the Communist party was in power, the number of Christians did not increase. It was not until 1970 that the situation greatly changed. Young people rose up to believe in the Lord. They did not have any denominations, missionaries, or pastors. Rather, they all rose up to preach the gospel house by house. Like a flood, in less than twenty years the number of Christians rose from three or five million to fifty million. On the contrary, in Taiwan we have freedom of speech, and our government assists us in every way, providing all kinds of conveniences for the church—the conveniences of transportation, education, and economical development. However, Christianity has not developed much here. Twenty years ago the number of saints among us had already reached today’s number. More than one hundred thousand people were baptized, of which tens of thousands met regularly. However, today, twenty years later, we have not had any increase in terms of the total number of saints. We preach the gospel and baptize people year after year, but according to the statistics, there is no increase. This is our failure.
We all love the Lord and are willing to change the system to evangelize Taiwan, but we need to be clear concerning the entire world situation and the situation of the churches so that we know where we are. Otherwise, we will be like the secular people whose eyes are darkened and who know only to walk but do not know where they are going. We have the prophecy of the Scriptures as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and we can testify that we are not groping in the dark (Psa. 119:105). We all know that one day the world will pass away, and our Lord will come back. However, are we ready? We all have to say from our conscience with fear and trembling, “No, we are not ready yet.” Then when He comes back, what kind of an account will we give to Him? Time is short. The situations of the world and of the churches are set before us, so we must rise up to change to the new way and to never go back to the old way.
Today there are over forty countries on the earth in which there are churches in the Lord’s recovery, and the number of churches is over nine hundred. Among these churches the most stable, experienced, and consecrated is the church in Taipei. For example, recently we decided to purchase land for the building of a meeting hall. We allowed the saints to offer voluntarily according to the Lord’s leading through announcements, fellowship, and encouragement. The saints in Taipei and the churches in Taiwan offered 180 million NT dollars within only two months. This shows that the saints truly love the Lord. Since this is the case, we all should rise up quickly to take the Lord’s present way—“walking two days’ journey in one day” and proceeding forward in a speedy way.